Who is Enron’s Attorney Sean M. Berkowitz?

Sean M. Berkowitz

Sean M. Berkowitz is a nationally recognized trial lawyer known as the former director of the Department of Justice’s Enron Task Force.



Berkowitz famously oversaw the federal prosecution team during the Enron scandal, which led to company’s CEOs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling being convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 2006.

He famously said in his closing arguments

“Don’t let the defendants, with their high-paid experts and their lawyers, buy their way out of this,” “I’m asking you to send them a message that it’s not all right. You can’t buy justice; you have to earn it.”

In September 2006 Berkowitz and the Enron Task Force team received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service.

RELATED LINK: BETHANY MCLEAN 5 FACTS ABOUT ATTORNEY SEAN M. BERKOWITZ’S WIFE

After successfully directing the government investigation into one of the nation’s most notorious white-collar crimes; he now represents big business as a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP –in Chicago.

Sean M. Berkowitz

Born in 1967 to mother Naomi Berkowitz, Sean M. Berkowitz received his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Tulane University in 1989. He subsequently received his J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1992.

Berkowitz was assigned to the Task Force in December 2003 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he led many high-profile prosecutions of white collar crime and corporate fraud. Prior to his five years at the United States Department of Justice, Berkowitz worked for the law firm Katten Muchin Zavis, now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, in Chicago, Illinois.

According to his profile, Sean represents clients in complex litigation and regulatory investigations. He regularly advises Fortune 500 companies and individual executives on their most important litigation matters in courts and venues throughout the United States. He also advises clients on government and regulatory investigations, and develops strategies to resolve those matters short of litigation.

He serves on the boards of the Chicago Area Project and A Better Chicago, an innovative non-profit organization that invests in and supports a portfolio of educational charities.

In addition he is happily married to Bethany McLean.